Beautiful Mind Colorful Eyes
by Lightan117
Summary: "You know, you're a little complicated after all." He said and she turned to face them. "Oh no," she assured him hastily. "No, I'm not really - I'm just a - I'm just a whole lot of different simple people." She said and went back to work with a smile on her face that seemed strained. The game wasn't over. Oh, no, not even close. The game doesn't finish until the last piece falls
1. Welcome back to the BAU

Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever Criminal Minds Fanfiction! I'm so excited! This is going to be one of those stories that will have random updates because of my other projects that I am currently working on.

For a while now I've been getting attached to Criminal Minds, especially to a certain Dr. Spencer Reid. So, of course this is going to be a Reid/OC Story. Hopefully, I do this story justice. So, please feel free to let me know about certain things or just to give me some advice on what I should watch out for. This also takes place in the beginning of season three.

So, with that said, I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC characters. Everything else belongs to their respected person.**

~oOo~

_"To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience." - Saint Teresa of Avila_

"Agent Hotchner, please, come in." Erin Strauss said as the door to her office opened, smiling at the person she hadn't seen for some time. A woman, in her mid-twenties, closed the door behind her. Her dark hair was pinned up into a loose bun with Chinese chopsticks sticking out of it, dressed in formal business wear with a pair of dark sunglasses shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight in the office. "How have you been?" Strauss asked as the woman sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Pretty good. I just got back from a month long vacation. It did me some good to get away." The woman told Strauss with a smile under the sunglasses. The month long vacation involved the woman going to Great Britain, away from work, where she could focus on other things and not be numb to the emotions the job causes. "I know you didn't ask me here for a curtsy call. What do you need Strauss?" The woman asked, getting down to business.

"So much like your brother. You take after him a lot, I can see it." She paused in her speech. "Have you talked with Aaron lately?"

"Not as frequent as before but I have talked with him recently. I heard that him and Haley are going through a rough time." The woman answered her. "Why are we talking about Aaron?"

"I was am under the impression that your brothers team was disorganized and posed a threat to the BAU. However, now that I have seen first hand how well they all work together and how they...deal with field work, I dismissed it." Strauss said and the woman in front of her smirked.

"Not as easy as it looks from sitting behind that desk, is it?" The woman said, judging by the look on Strauss's face she knew that field work leaves a person with scars and nightmares for the rest of their lives if they allow such things to bother them. Even the most tough and experienced field agent could crumb from them.

"No, it isn't." Strauss said and folded her hands over the file she was looking through earlier, no doubt it is the woman's file she was looking through. "The reason why I called you here is because I'm calling in that favor you owe me. I'm not going to force you to do this but I want you to consider it before deciding. I can always ask for this favor for a different time." Strauss smiled and the woman in front of her shook her head.

"I'm not spying on my brother for you Strauss."

"I'm not asking that. I want to assign you to his team, work with them and just...keep an eye on your brother, remind him who he works for." Strauss said, leaning back in her seat, waiting for an answer. The woman thought for a moment as she weighed her options before looking up at the woman behind the desk.

"Do I still get my conditions?"

"A bit less but of course, you have full opportunity to take leave. I'm not going to hold you there if you don't want to." Strauss said before standing up, holding out her hand. "Do we have a deal?"

The woman stood and took Strauss's hand, giving it a firm shake. "We do."

"Report to your brother tomorrow morning. Welcome back to the BAU Special Agent Hotchner." Strauss said with a knowing smile.

"It's good to be back Ma'am." Agent Hotchner said with a smile as well. Agent Hotchner then took her leave, closing the door behind her softly. Agent Hotchner then took her leave of the FBI building in Quantico, Virginia; heading back to her home to finish unpacking from her trip.

It took the woman a matter of minutes to reach her suburban home. A small cream two story house waited for her on a peaceful family neighborhood street. The lawn has been freshly cut and the plants are well taken care of despite the month long abstinence. Agent Hotchner smile and waved to her next door neighbor who stood in front of his lawn, watering his plants. Once she got out of the car she went to the fence that separated the two homes with a smile. Michel is one of those people who always is looking to help someone out but at the same time, there's something about him that makes Hotchner question. He's always wanted to know more about her and what she does but when it comes to the FBI, there are always things you should never speak about.

"Thanks for taking care of my lawn Michel. I'll bake those stereotypical brownies neighbors do for each other." Agent Hotchner said with a smirk as Michel laughed at the joke they shared.

"No problem. I thought you might have a hard time with the others if your lawn looked dead so I decided to keep them off your back for you." He said to her with a flirty smile. "And I sure would like some of those brownies of yours." He said, trying a southern accent but failed. Agent Hotchner laughed before making her leave towards the front door.

"I'll see what I can do. Might be a while if I'm tied up at work." She called back.

"Always the workaholic. Take care of yourself and let me know if you need any help at all." He said in a joking way she knew very well.

"It's in the job description to be over worked and under paid." She said and waved before going inside. Inside the house, everything was neat and tidy. The walls were painted a deep earth green color with brown and tan furniture. Agent Hotchner put her keys into a bowl beside the door, hanging up her sweater and purse before moving into the house. Silent footsteps approached her and she smiled as a very large black cat walked towards her with what seemed like a smile. "Glad to be back Horus?" Hotchner asked her cat, knelling down to pet him. The cat meowed and start to purr as his owner petted him. "Yeah, me too." Hotchner got up and went into the kitchen where she picked up the phone to order take out. "Don't worry, I'll get your shrimp." She said to her cat as he sat on the kitchen counter where she made her order. The cat looked at her with his head tilted as if in his head he was thinking of something he wanted to say. The cat has always been strange since it arrived on her doorstep the day after Hotchner came back from the hospital. Once the order was placed, Hotchner went into the living room, her cat trailing behind her, where she dialed a memorized number.

"_Hello?"_ A male voice answered the phone.

"Hello bro, how's G-man?" Hotchner said with a smile.

"_Piper, I should have known. Jack is doing fine and so is Haley. How have you been? Last I heard you were still in Great Britain._" Aaron said with a slight laugh.

"I just got back. The reason why I called is because I got a call from Strauss. She asked if I would like to be apart of your team." Piper said to him, petting Horus with soft strokes.

"_I got a call from her earlier. Not that I'm not glad you're joining us but can I ask why?"_ He asked and Piper sighed.

"She wants me to keep an eye on you but I also felt like I could use a change. After my last case, I decided that feeling numb isn't the answer, so I went away so I could feel something again. Maybe this is a good thing Aaron." Piper said with a sigh, clenching her fingers as if they were stiff with cold.

"_I hope you're ready. When are you coming in?_" He asked.

"Tomorrow morning. Make sure you have a desk all neat and tidy for me." Piper smiled just as the doorbell rang.

Aaron chuckled and answered, "_Will do, see you tomorrow._" Then the phone went quiet. Piper turned on the TV and waited for the delivery man to arrive at her door. When he did, Piper paid for her food and returned to the living room where she watched the marathon of BONES. She gave Horus his shrimp and they ate in silence until the grandfather clock struck 10 at night. Piper sighed, cleaned up her dinner and went upstairs to take a shower.

In her bed room she laid out her penguin pajamas, bra, and underwear then went into the bathroom to turn on the shower. She quickly went downstairs, checking all the locks on the windows and doors before returning to the bathroom to shower.

"_We need to get out of here__!_" Piper gasped as a searing pain came from her ribs.

No...not again...

"_What about the others!? We have to find them!_" Shakes racked Pipers body as the water pelted down on her, making her remember a storm, the wind raging; blowing water everywhere.

"_They'll be fine but we have to get off this damn boat! It's going to sink to the ocean floor!_" That voice...that dead voice made her head ache along with her chest.

"_Alistair I'm scared! What if they don't make it!_" Tears came down from Pipers eyes as she braced her hands against the showers wall.

"_Jump! Jump Piper! JUMP!_" A large explosion shook Pipers body, creating stars and a flash behind her closed eyes as she slipped, hitting her head on the side of the body, everything going black...

"_Alistair wake up! Wake up! Wake up, don't leave me! ALISTAIR!_"

_"Pain is never permanent." Saint Teresa of Avila_

~oOo~

And there's the first chapter! Please review and tell me what you think! Advice is welcome! Until next time!


	2. Introduction of Minds

Hello everyone and welcome back for another chapter! First off, I would like to thank the reviewers and who also gave me advice not to make my character sound like a Mary-Sue...

**Chrissadox**

**20000 WPM**

**giderasia1**

**Nalledia**

**red2013**

And thank you to the followers and favorites. I'll try and make this story interesting and fun to read. In between some chapters I'll have some flashbacks to show a little more of Piper's past along with interactions between her and Dr. Reid. Cute Fluffy times ahead!

So, with those things said, I hope you all enjoy the read!

P.S – I'll be skipping episodes now and then.

~oOo~

"_If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." - Lewis Carroll._

Piper Hotchner woke up with a rather large headache along with cold water pelting down on her. She felt something bat at her nose softly, her hands clenching the shower curtain as she opened her eyes. Horus sat in front of her, trying to wake her, meowing loudly as he too got hit with the cold water. Piper sat up, wincing at her headache then began to turn off the water. Everything felt cold, reminding Piper of those years ago when she was new to everything around her.

"I hate water." Piper cursed and crawled to the toilet where her towel sat folded neatly. She heard Horus meow and she turned to see the large black cat looking at her with its head tilted to one side. "Oh hush you. If I want to crawl, I'll damn well will crawl." She said, wrapping her self up before trying to get to her feet but her legs were just to weak to carry her.

There's scars, mental wounds that will never heal but the physical ones, ones that do heal, don't linger as much as the mental ones do.

Piper crawled on her hands and knees to her bedroom, getting dressed with slowness before crawling into bed, not caring if the lights were left on.

~_Flashback~_

_It's dark..._

_And cold..._

_Even with my eyes closed I could tell I'm on a ship by the way it stormed outside and how the ship rocked. I felt like I was going to be sick the way the ship violently swayed and rocked when a large wave crashed into the side. I didn't want to open my eyes, I didn't want to know that the place I'm in is real._

_It must be a bad dream...a really bad dream._

"_Wakey wakey sunshine." A voice said and my eyes snapped open, __sitting up in a mask-shift bed on the floor of the room I'm in. Everything around me looked rusted, old and it smelled of sweaty bodies with chemicals. "Time to play!" The voice said in a cheerful manner that __made me sick to my stomach. I got up and ran to the door, only to run into it at full speed. The door locked. "Oh! That's gotta hurt!" The voice laughed and I breathed heavy as I pounded on the door. _

"_Let me out you bastard!" I shouted, trying to open the door even though I knew it wouldn't open._

"_Now, now SSA Agent Hotchner, let's not get ahead of ourselves." The voice said and continued to laugh. "You have to hear the rules first before we play our little game." The voice, male, mid twenties said over the inter comm of the ship. _

"_I don't want to play your damn game!" I shouted._

"_Ha-ha, too bad! You're friends already heard the rules but we're all waiting on you. All the players need to be on the board in order for the game to begin." The voice said and his voice dropped to a hiss. "Shall we play?"_

"_Fine. What are the rules?" __I said and the voice laughed in a cheerful manner again._

"_Oh, goody! I know you're going to love this game. I know I will." A sound of paper flipping sounded over the comm before he talked again. "__Here are the rules. Rule One: No trying to kill yourself. That ruins the fun. Rule Two: You have to defeat all the other players in order to win the game. Rule Three: You __c__an change the rules only __**if **__it make__s__ the game more interesting. Rule Four: __Only use the weapons given to you. None of the makeshift crap. Got the rules?" He asked me._

"_Yeah, simple enough." I answered him._

"_Also, because I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you a few hints." He laughed again. "There's a medical room on the third floor. You might want to get there just in case you happen to get hurt. Also, if you manage to find the bridge, don't bother calling for help. I have this whole place locked down under lock and key. No one can save you. And last but not least, try not to be the first to die. Since you're the only girl, I'd find somewhere to hide while the others kill themselves first." _

"_Kill themselves? You mean kill each other?" I asked him and the laughing stopped._

"_That's the whole point of the game Agent Hotchner! LAST MAN STANDING! WINNER TAKE ALL! KING OF THE HILL!" He shouted and I had to cover my ears at the loudness. "By the way, you and your team have five hours. Once time is up, the ship starts to blow up until it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Good luck!" Then the voice was gone, and the door to my room unlocked, opening with a loud creak. _

_The game had begun._

_~End of Flashback~_

Piper woke up to the sound of her phone going off besides her bed. Piper guessed that she didn't get a full amount of sleep due to passing out in the shower. She groaned, getting out of bed, her body stiff from last nights nightmare. Piper stretched, then went into the bathroom to wash her face. When she looked up in the mirror she frowned when a rather large bruise had formed near her hairline on her forehead.

"Great, just great." Piper muttered then went back into her bedroom to change. She dressed in her usual wear that consisted of colorful blouses, black dress pants, and her lucky purple sketchers. Once Piper dressed she went downstairs to grab the news paper from the front lawn, flipping it to the comics, then laying it on the table. While she got her breakfast ready she filled up Horus's food bowl with wet cat food. She looked over her shoulder to see that her cat was once again sitting on the dinning room table, looking down on the news paper as if he was reading it.

He is reading it if you look at his eyes, the way the go left to right, reading.

When Horus first arrived at Piper's door she didn't know what to think. At first, she thought that he was a stray but the way he acted made her believe that he used to be somebody's pet. When she managed to get him in a cat carrier she took him to the local pet office to see if anybody was missing a cat. None were reported missing that has described the cat in any way. Piper decided to keep the cat, enjoying somebody else living in the cookie cutter house. Over a span of a week of getting things for a cat to live in a home, Horus, she named him after the Egyptian God while writing one of her many criminal mystery books, started to act more and more like an un-average cat. He would answer her when she acted him a question, tilt his head when he was listening to her talk or just asking her silently what was the matter then she became too quiet, eat with her when she ordered take out, and the number one thing he does that is so unlike a cat is hiss when 'strange' people come to the door.

All most like what a dog would do when the mailman comes, only, Horus would hiss at people he didn't know or quite like for that matter. Nd that included Michel of next door. Horus hates him and so Piper is always on her toes when he talks to her. Some days, Horus would even act as if he was human.

"Any good ones?" Piper asked and Horus replied with a low meow which meant no. Higher pitched meows meant yes after Piper started to learn more about her strange feline companion. "Great. First bruise and now bad comics. What a day this s turning out to be." Piper put her eggs and bacon on a plate then sat at the size person family table with Horus continuing to read the comics.

After breakfast, Piper brushed her teeth, fixed her hair, then got her backpack ready. Extra sunglasses, her Epipen(peanut allergy), small first aid kit, pad and pencils, and her lucky four leaf clover in a jar key chain. She bid Horus goodbye then locked the front door behind her, heading towards her black bug, waving to Michel who is also leaving for work. By passing the morning traffic, Piper arrived at the BAU in record time. She flashed her name tag at the morning guard, saying good-morning too before she took the elevator up to where Strauss is waiting for her.

"Good morning Agent Hotchner." Strauss greeted her as soon as the doors opened on the right floor. Strauss looked as business and as formal as ever.

"Good morning Strauss. How's the kids?" Piper asked, shaking her hand with a smile.

"Good, they're good. Agent Hotchner, I'd like to introduce you to Agent David Rossi. He will be joining your team as well." She introduced us but there was no need.

"Good to see you again David. How have you been?" Piper said and pushed back her sunglasses that were sliding off her small nose.

"Good, good but tell me how have you've been. I read your last book and found it fascinating. There is also that trip to Britain." He said and Piper chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it when we get the time. I believe Strauss would like us to get started as soon as possible." Piper then turned her direction back to Strauss.

"This way." She said and we were lead into the Bullpen w here agents are hard at work...except for one that had a hangman's noose around his neck, a Frankenstein mask with hands, holding a candy bucket.

"_At least someone is enjoying the festivities._" Piper spoke in her head, giggling as she walked by three agents who were looking at them. Both Rossi and Piper gave them smiles as they walked towards Aaron Hotchner's office.

"Agent Hotchner." Strauss began. "I'm sure you remember.."

"Dave." My brother said and approached Rossi with open arms, not caring if he interrupted Strauss.

"How are you Aaron?" Rossi asked Piper's brother as she moved to the back of the room to allow them to talk.

"I'm good. I'm great." Aaron answered him, giving him a brotherly/friendly hug. They talked about Rossi on TV before going quiet, turning towards Strauss.

'Well, I'll let the _three_ of you catch up. If you need anything, I'm in my office." Strauss said and left as Aaron said thank you.

"Hello Piper." Aaron said and gave me a strong brotherly hug with a smile that reached his eyes.

"Morning bro." Piper replied to him and the three of them began talking, mostly about how Rossi feels about being back to work for the BAU.

"But the last time I was in the BAU, you were sharing a desk with two other agents in that god offal bunker we were in." Then he turned towards Piper. "And this little one was publishing her first ever book at age 15." He ruffled Piper's hair, knowing it annoyed her to no end due to the fact that she is exactly, 5 feet tall, weighing 120 pounds.

"I remember." Aaron said with a smile.

"Congratulations." Rossi said with his own smile.

"Well, there's one just like this next door if you're interested." Aaron said to him then turning to Piper. "I have a desk as cleared out for you to take over once your settled." A woman with blond hair and a charming smile came into the room, addressing Aaron first. "I'm ready to give the briefing."

"Agent Jareau, this is SSA Agent David Rossi and SSA Agent Piper Hotchner." Piper's brother introduced them. When he said Hotchner as the last name, her eyes widened as she shook hands with the woman.

"Hi. Everyone calls me JJ. It is such an honor to meet you." She said towards Rossi. "The both of you." She said towards Piper but she didn't mind. Rossi was more about writing criminal books on real time cases he worked while Piper but her cases in Mystery/Crime novels that focused on a different audience.

"It's very nice to meet you. And what is it that you do here?" Rossi asked JJ.

"I'm the communications coordinator and Liaison. Pretty much the go-between for the team and the rest of the world." JJ explained to the old timer. "So, I'll gather everyone."

"We'll be right there." Aaron said and JJ left, giving us one last handshake.

"Wow. We didn't have that 10 years ago." Rossi commented and Piper lightly smacked him on his arm.

"Rossi!" She said and Rossi chuckled, turning towards her.

"I mean the communications coordinator." He explained and Piper didn't buy it for a second.

"Right." Aaron said with a knowing look. "Oh, lots have changed. Come meet the team."Aaron said and lead them out the door.

"That's right, old timer, time to get with the new and up world." Piper jested as they walked towards where the three agents from before were sitting.

"SSA David Rossi and SSA Piper Hotchner, this is SSA Emily Prentiss." Aaron introduced them to a woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes. "SSA Derek Morgan." Next came the chocolate brown man with brown eyes and muscles. "And Dr. Spencer Reid." The mid-twenties man with long brown hair and eyes was introduced next. There was something about the Dr. that gave off this innocent cute feeling that made the smile on Piper's face just a little bit bigger after she shook hands with the other two agents.

"Sir, if I could talk to you later about your work with the Scarsdale Skinner. Psycho-linguistics is an incredibly dynamic field, and that fact that you've profile he's reading habits is ultimitly lead to his capture is so imcedibably ingreg-"

"Reid, slow down. He'll be here for a while. Catch up with him later okay?" Aaron asked the highly inteligent Dr.

"Sorry."

"No problem Dr." Rossi said.

"Maybe you guys can talk on the jet." Aaron suggest and both Rossi and Piper turned their heads.

"The jet?" They both asked as the same time.

"We have a jet now." Aaron answered them.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, comes in pretty handy. Come on, JJ's waiting." Aaron said and pratically shoved them towards a different room.

"My brothers get all the cool toys." Piper muttered as she was lead into a room with a large table were file packets were being placed on by JJ.

"Carrollton, Texax, is a suburb just outside of Dallas. Four days ago, Michelle Colucci found this flier on her front door." JJ brought up a picture of the filer with the woman's face on it with the words 'have you seen me?' on it. Piper sat down next to Dr. Spencer Redi, taking a look into the file while JJ talked.

"_She_ found it?" Derek asked as he too sat down.

"Meaning she wasn't actually missing." Emily said.

"Yet. She took the filer to a friend's husband, Detective Yarbrough, at the Carrollton P.D, he told it was probably just a Halloween prank and he sent her home." JJ explained.

"Well, I don't blame him. Halloween brings out the fool in everyone." He said but mostly directed towards Dr. Reid.

"Still, he stopped by Michelle's house later to check on her. The door was open and when he went inside, he found this." JJ clicked a button on the remote that brought up another picture that showed lots of 'have you seen me?' pictures.

"Well, that's creepy." Piper muttered and everyone agreed.

"Still thought maybe it could be some type of prank until yesterday." JJ brought up another picture but this time, it was worse. "Michelle was found floating in a small creek just outside of Carrollton. She had been sexually assaulted, "JJ brought up another horrid picture. "and her face had been removed."

"Removed? It wasn't animals or fish?" Rossi asked.

"Would fish even eat a face that fast?" Piper commented but before anyon could speak, namely Dr. Reid, JJ spoke up.

"The Dallas County M.E said the edges of the wound were smooth, not torn. A very sharp instrument had been used. He also found water in her lungs." JJ continued just as the door opened, revealing a strangely dressed woman with pink hair stepping into the room, covering her eyes.

"What is that?" She asked, closing her eyes and hiding it with a file.

"Technical Annalist, Penelope Garcia this is SSA David Rossi and SSA Piper Hotchner." Aaron introduced them and Piper smiled at the woman, liking her within seconds.

"Is it gone, JJ?" Garcia asked and JJ removed the picture from the screen.

"Yeah, yeah, you're safe." JJ said and sat down in her seat.

Okay, just to, um...Carrollton, Texas, has nearly a hundred seventeen thousand residents of diverse population within, well...it's all in there. I'm sorry." She said then turned towards us but her main focus was on me since Aaron once again said Piper's last name. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you." She shook hands with them with a large grin on her face. "I'll be in my office." She said and left, closing the door.

"She's different." Rossi commented.

"I think she's cool." Piper said and the other team members smiled at her. One point for Piper!

"You have no idea." Aaron said.

"Ah, so, the unsub tells her she's going to go missing to physiologically torture her then torture her physically. Text book sadist." Emily started.

"A sophisticated one. That's elaborate." Aaron said gesturing towards the pictures of the filers hanging on the wall of the woman's house.

"Number one." Derek said, looking at a picture of a white mask with the word one written on it.

"That particular mask is known as a false face. It's most commonly worn during Halloween and Mardi Gras." Dr. Reid explained.

"Creepy. I rest my case." Derek said.

"False face."

"Her face? He mocks it then destroys it?" Emily questioned.

"Maybe he hates not being seen by them so this means his face?" Piper threw out there, trying to help as much as she can.

"Oh, and, Hotch local media has the story. Broke big." JJ explained to her boss.

"Tell Carrollton we'll be there, first thing in the morning. Let's stop this thing at one." Aaron said, packing up the file and so did the others. "If you two want to take some time to get situated, maybe start on the next case?" Aaron suggested but there was no way Piper was going to back out of this case. Not when she could make an impression on her new team.

"I'm not back to get situated. I'm here to work." Rossi said and Piper gave her brother the same answer.

"Okay. Everybody get your things together. We're going to Texas." Aaron said and gave his sister a look of encouragement before leaving the room.

This is going to be a very interesting case. Especially with a new team. Piper only hopes that she gets to keep this team...and not end up like...

No.

No, now's not the time to be thinking about the past. The past is dead and has to remain buried or else bad painful memories will resurface. This is a new life, a new start. Only think of happy things.

"_Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll._

~oOo~

SUCH A LONG CHAPTER! I'll continue the episode in the next chapter so I can use the whole chapter. Please review and let me know what you think! Until next time!


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